TIME appeals $106M Indonesia judgment in Suharto defamation suit News
TIME appeals $106M Indonesia judgment in Suharto defamation suit

[JURIST] TIME magazine [media website] on Thursday asked the Supreme Court of Indonesia to reconsider its August 2007 decision [JURIST report] awarding former Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Suharto [CNN profile; JURIST news archive] $106 million in damages in Suharto's defamation suit against the publication. Suharto sued TIME over a 1999 article [text] that said Suharto had hidden billions of dollars in foreign banks. The Supreme Court overturned two lower court decisions against Suharto, ordering TIME to pay damages and publish a formal apology in Indonesian newspapers and its own magazine. TIME announced last month that it was ready to file the appeal [JURIST report].

Suharto, who ruled Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, died [JURIST report] in late January. Indonesian government lawyers are currently pursuing a civil corruption case [JURIST report] against his estate in connection to allegations that he embezzled $440 million from the Yayasan Supersemar [official website], a state-funded scholarship fund, between 1974 and 1998. Earlier criminal corruption charges were dropped in 2006 because Suharto was rendered unable to speak or write [JURIST reports] as a result of several strokes. AP has more.